Cochise
Chiricahua Apache chief
Cochise was a strong, respected chief, but by Arizona statehood, one of his key legacies was lost.
An incident involving Cochise launched decades of war between the U.S. Army and Apaches.
In 1861, Lt. George Bascom met with Cochise and several comrades - in a tent at Apache Pass, near present-day Bowie - and accused them of kidnapping a boy. Bascom tried to take Cochise as a bargaining chip, to get the boy back, but Cochise sliced a hole in the tent and escaped.
When Bascom arrested the others, Cochise responded by killing Americans. The war was on.
That phase culminated in 1872, when Cochise met in the Dragoon Mountains with Gen. Oliver Howard. The two sides agreed the Chiricahuas would be allotted a reservation more or less matching today's Cochise County.
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But some Anglo-American residents were unhappy with that, and Mexicans protested continuing Apache raids across the border. Cochise died in 1874, and the U.S. government revoked the treaty in 1876, moving Chiri-cahuas to the hated San Carlos Reservation.

